“Come on, just for a night Kyo.”

“No. I return.”

“Kyooooo~ come onnnnnnnnn.”

“It is not fit for a kenin to speak in such a way. Much less one who has the honor of riding horseback.”

“Pfffft, please. Everyone talks this way BUT YOU! That stuff is for meetings, battles, and etcetera etcetera. Listen to me, I'm your second in command!”

“I honor the code constantly, even while not being watched.”

“I’m sure you do bud, I’m sure you do.”

The handsome black haired warrior turned towards his companion, his face completely dull of emotion. “Bud? I am a flower? Did you attempt poetry?”

“No, bud as in,” *sigh* “ya know, friend?”

“You are my officer, not my ‘bud’.”

“That’s not how it- you know what. Just leave with me.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes, everyone is waiting for you! I even had a subordinate ask your wife, and she allowed it.”

“It is not her job to allow anyt-”

Grabbing Kyo’s hand hastily, his right-hand man practically dragged him to the next bar. He heard comments on positions of authority and seniority but it was blocked out. It was a cheap trick, he knew, but he abused it to his fullest. Kyo never actually fought back unless it was to the death or strict training. The loyal friend frowned in a bit of displeasure, the thought of Kyo being seen as more of a dangerous weapon rather than a person annoying him.

But that would change tonight. His grin widened.

…

“BULLCRAP! YOU’RE CHEATING! HOWZZ UZZ-” he paused for a moment, staring into space as if his brain shut off, before suddenly buzzing back to life again, “UZZ HOLDIN YOUR LICHUAOIR sooooooooooooooooo~ WELL!” It had a bit of a pause to change to a seductive tone for some reason. That reasoning was the reason of a drunk.

Kyo just stayed silent, a wise judgment. He took another drink from his glass, a surprisingly good taste for a 45 percent alcohol beverage. He always believed in not wasting what was given to him.

“Oh, I'mma hurl.”

He held his hands straight out, as if he were on a balance beam. It was not as if the man could not hold his liquor, it was his tenth mug after all. How he had not somehow went to the bathroom yet was anyone’s guess.

“Kazumi, do not regurgitate on me.”

“Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, uh, ok.” He suddenly stopped again, his mind somewhere else entirely. Thankfully, it was returned after a few seconds.

Kazumi did indeed fit him. Kazu meant peace or harmony, and it showed as everyone seemed to get along with him. Mi means beauty, and his looks are well over what is considered ‘good looking’. Overall, he is a charismatic guy, though he could never be held down in one relationship. He had bad romantic luck it seemed.

“Why you still weari-i-i-i-i-i...ing the armorrrr?”

“I took the helmet off.”

“FOSn’t count!”

Kyo displayed no emotion. His cheeks were not even red from the poison circulating within his body. It annoyed Kazumi, because Kyo has never really drunk before, and any time he has was when he was forced! He was sure it would drive him bald, getting the guy to do anything.

Still, he liked working for him.

With a bit more of a sober look, he looked up at the ceiling.

“The war’s almost over, huh?”

Kyo put his gloved hand to his chin then nodded, “Indeed.”

“The last parts gonna be the hardest. It’s all cold and mountainy, worst place to attack since we have downhill. Don’t even know if they’re willing to send in that many troops,” his keen intellect barely showed over his drunken stupor, a proper mind being one of the main reasons he was caught by Kyo, “they might just do suicide attacks.”

The silence urged his continuation.

“The age of us samurai is dying, eh?”

Kyo had no response. If there was confliction, it didn’t show.

“They’re getting rid of us for more fancy military and government systems. We’re practically moved to a military only thing already. Our nobility is only military rank now. Well, not that I’ve got much of one, it would affect you much more.”

His finger traced the rim of his glass.

“It’s scary to think we might be next, huh?”

Kyo only looked at him. Looked at him with his shiny amber eyes, brimming with intellect and willpower. They always seemed to hold the depth of worlds, but could never be seen beyond the border of the eyelid.

“Oh, yeah, you’re an old fangled guy still. You aren’t scared, you only care about serving whoever is in charge of you. Gonna pass it down to your kids, and your lineage is gonna be possibly the only line of samurai remaining, with all the new technology outdating them and all that. Heck, m-”

“I will say this to you and only you.”

Kazumi’s ears perked up, slightly longer length than normal ones. He didn’t not expect a response, but sat there in silence. He was not only a good talker, but listener as well.

Kyo’s hands didn’t ball up. He didn’t scrunch his face. He was the same, the same save it be his lips which parted to produce sound.

“What makes a human?”

Kazumi stopped. How drunk was he?

“It is our organs, our skin, our minds perhaps? How much do you take away before it is not human? This is one of the greatest paradoxes known to man, born more than a thousand years ago. Originally, it was known as the Ship of Theseus, but it is more than that.”

Kazumi’s brain broke again, and Kyo waited for it to be over before he continued.

“I think it is less about being a human, and more about a person with identity. Animals discovered so far do not hold identity. Possibly names, but they don’t have the complex thoughts we produce. I believe it is this identity which makes us deemed ‘human’.”

“What?” Kyo’s never talked this much before, Kazumi is certain of it.

Perhaps, perhaps he knew something was coming. Some people were like that, always somehow able to know something bad is going to happen. For a cunning person such as Kyo, perhaps it is more than just a shiver of his spine. He’s heard people liked to talk a lot to get things off their chest before something big happens. Being drunk likely helped too.

“I am called a weapon.”

Kazumi frowned, but Kyo continued.

“I kill people, but that’s not all I do. I kill lots of people. Most would feel something from this. but..." he paused "I don't. I do not express it either. Not my emotions, my feelings, for I serve. I do not decide what is right, others do and I follow. This is my point. It could be that a person is not just something with an identity, but something that expresses themselves. This could identify between what is human and not, expression.”

Kazumi looked up, Kyo staring with the abyss into his own eyes. A look that would steal the heartbeat of a person, leaving them cold and dead.

“Tell me, am I a person?”

Kazumi stayed still. Not of fear or of drink, but of taking it in.

Kazumi did not take much of the Bushido Code to heart, however…

His face took on a beautiful smile, as if a blooming cherry blossom. It was wide, squinty, and a bit toothy, but it complemented his emotions ever so perfectly. If there were a word to describe it, it would be honest. It was an honest love and respect for Kyo. It held no falsehood.

“Yes, yes you are.”

He tried to take another sip of his drink, but found nothing. “I think you’re right, it requires expression of identity they hold, but,” he waved his finger, “expression can take on many forms.” He held a fist up towards Kyo.

“I have never met such an honest, stalwart, courageous, skilled, and loyal person. Heck, I didn’t even describe every trait, because that would describe all emotions known to man, and then some!” He gave a hearty laugh. Genuine, his ponytail falling down past his shoulders. “You express it in YOUR way,” he poked Kyo’s armored chest, “and I’ll express it in mine.” He gave a thumb pointing towards him.

“And if I were to say I were afraid?”

“Bahh, anyone not afraid is an idiot. It keeps us alive for goodness sake! It’s letting it take over that’s the problem, and not one you have. Lucky.”

Kyo looked at his right hand man. A man who had made his position from nothing, who had fought for scraps in alleyways and dug his grimy fingernails into every opportunity to make a life for himself. He begged, was beaten, and much, much worse was done to him. And yet, he ended up like this. This is who Kazumi is, before being a tactician or a warrior or a man. He is strong. He is kind. He is Kazumi.

Kyo, in response to his honest praise, simply nodded.

“Humph, thought I could get your eyes a little wet with that one.”

“...How? Were you going to drip liquid on them, or spit on them as you spoke? Why would you wish for them to be wet?”

“You… you’re really a piece o’ work, aren’t you.”

“No, I’m K-”

“YEAH YEAH, I get it.”

He moved his mouth around as if thinking. "Say, Kyo."

"Yes?"

"Who do you actually serve?"

There was no hesitation. "The sho-"

"No," he pointed at him "who do you REALLY serve? You follow the shogun, but you don't care about following him. It seems like you follow him because someone else said to."

Kyo was about to reply but was shut up immediately.

Suddenly, Kazumi’s entire world went white. His eyes went so big they practically expanded out of their sockets. His mouth dropped open, letting out a boozy breath. His hands slapped hard against his cheeks, leaving them red and sore.

“I ALMOST FORGOT!”

He gave an almost sinister chuckle. Kyo watched on, intent on seeing what was to come.

A scroll of paper was pulled out of his sack.

He unrolled it and read out its contents.

“This is long and exaggerated, so let me get to the point. By the favors stored up by the last few years, it is gifted unto you, Kazumi, this permission. By order of the shogun, Kyo must smile before you.”

Kyo blinked.

Kyo blinked again.

Then, with the most deadpan face a mortal could possibly muster, he looked at his drinking companion. “What?”

“That’s right!” He pointed around the room, revealing many familiar faces. They were the faces of soldiers who had fought with them in battle. “I brought em all here so they could see it too. I got the shogun himself to write this!”

“Ridiculous.” Kyo could only think of it as such. “You could have received a mansion for such a thing, or many an acre of land. Why?”

“What is ridiculous is you never smiling! S-m-i-l-e. It is by order of superiors!”

Kyo didn’t dare doubt his honesty, he likely spoke the truth.

Kyo exhaled, not quite a sigh but quite close to it.

And then, Kyo’s lips moved.

“Hah, hahahaha, HAHAHAHAHA!” Kazumi pointed straight at him, eventually forced to hold his guts before they fell out. “WAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” A ruckus sounded throughout the room, everyone who knew him personally laughing, while others didn’t in fear of being a target of ire. Kazumi was forced to wipe away tears at the twitchy, cheesy, toothy grin that was given by his boss.

“Okay, okay. Whew.” Kazumi was the first one to speak, “I didn’t know I would have to TEACH you how to smile normal first. Well worth it though, well worth it.” His cheshire smirk turned viciously sly. Only due to how closely they sat together could he see. Only Kyo and Kazumi knew of it.

Kyo’s cheeks had the smallest tint of red.

Whether that was calculated or genuine, Kazumi couldn’t tell. It was merely up to the wind, earth, and water.

…

“Kyo.”

“Mhm?”

They were walking back, and though the subordinate usually walked the master back, in this case it couldn’t be that way. His subordinate was the one stumbling like a one legged cattle. Even now a bottle laid in his hand.

His cheeks were a fire red, and yet he had another moment of clarity.

“You know what I want to reincarnate as?”

Kyo looked down on the man. He knew that though he wasn’t overly zealous, Kazumi is slightly religious.

“I want to be a fish.”

The light going into Kyo’s eyes almost seemed to bend slightly. “A fish?”

“Ya, a big one, not a little one. Probably one of them mythical ones,” his accent started to show a bit, “one with crazy powers. Then I could travel the sea and see all the wonders I want. I could go to Europe, Asia, the spice islands, heck, maybe even China.” He gave a grin to Kyo, “I’m more of an adventurer.”

He cupped his somewhat bearded chin with his hand, “Maybe I'll start something like that. Ya know, for people like me,” his arms spread out wide, “an entire group of adventurers, mapping out the world and seeing the never seen!”

“I thought you wanted to do a charity and orphanage?”

Kazumi gave Kyo a sour glare, “Why can’t I do all of em?”

“I suppose you can.”

“Of course!”

“...Kazumi.”

“Yes?”

“Why do you talk to me when no one else does?”

“Huh, that’s simple.”

He smiled again, mouthing out three words.

“Kazumi, you are my third limb. It cannot be so, nor true,”

“Well,” he grunted before stepping in his house.

“It seems there are some things even you don’t know.”

The door was shut, and the sound of violent vomiting followed shortly after.

...

Kyo walked home that day. He thought hard, which he rarely did outside of academics.

Without noticing, he returned home. Strange, he thought, he was almost always aware of where he was going.

He slid open the door to his house, though most would call it a mansion. For his status, it was quite modest.

Schick

There was no lighting inside. Strange again.

The corridors were dark. Just the spare beams of moonlight managed to get through the tight mesh. Thankfully, Kyo knew the house like the back of his hand.

He slid another door open.

Schhhick

A long table rested upon tatami matting. There were no bowls, no messes, no life. Kyo nodded, it is normal for this time. And yet, still strange.

He slid the door open to the left of the room, in the middle.

Schhhhhick

Kyo’s eyes adjusted to the dark room. It was the living room. A large room with a small shelf in the corner that held rank and file literature, while soft cushions littered the room. A nice furnished cypress table is surrounded by floor seats with wooden backrests in the center. A nice space.

His gaze turns to the right, the barely opened slit in the doorway.

A liquid.

It pooled outward. The tatami mat floor stained crimson, barely noticeable in the dark light.

A silhouette of an object peered outward, on top of the pooled area.

Fingernails, skin, blood, hand, arm.

The moonlight danced on his emotionless eyes. Eyes that could drag in space in time, vast with emptiness.

Oh, another one.

His mouth shifted ever so slightly, not of his own volition. The very edges of it curved up.

Finally,

“...”

something normal.

…

Tomoee stirred, awoken.

Her eyes flashed left and right, the unique glare of both hunter and prey. She looked down, her plate armor still on. Her faceplate wasn’t on.

She stopped, recalling the events before slumber.

Her gaze turned towards Isirith.

“...”

Her hand reached for the katana, Watatsumi. Her fingers fondled the grip, the others the sheath. With a slow motion, she drew the blade, the edge perfection itself.

She looked at her reflection. Her pristine features. Her black hair.

Her eyes. Her eyes full of spirit, of resistance, of pride. The eyes of a warrior.

A piece of her locked into place. It accepted itself, a fit without fault.

Maybe. Maybe this is for the best. No…

Perhaps this is better for me.